This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 5-star 2025 OT Josh Petty at Fellowship Christian. He ranks as the nation’s No. 3 OT and the No. 23 overall prospect on the 247Sports Composite. The On3 Industry Ranking has him as the No. 5 OT and at No. 26 overall.
Josh Petty has a busy spring ahead of him. To say the least.
We all have our to-do lists. But this is a 5-star to-do list. In short order, he’s got to:
- Whittle down over 40 scholarship offers to do what he feels is a manageable Top 12
- Go visit schools this spring to whittle that 12 down to maybe five or six schools for officials
- Recover from a hip avulsion fracture that saw him miss out on a GHSA Class 2A state wrestling championship
- Stack on about 30 pounds to be ready for his goal weight of playing his senior year at 285 pounds
- To do that, he’s going to ingest approximately 350-400 grams of protein and 6,500-7,000 calories daily
This feels like the optimal time for a pause button on the narrative.
Yes, the last three bullets need to be reread.
We are serious. Petty is serious there. There was some good and bad that went with his state title match in the 285-pound weight class in the GHSA Class 2A state wrestling championships.
“So as I was going around for a sweep single my leg got caught under me and it caused tension. I don’t know what it was called. But I have an avulsion fracture on my iliac spine. So just a little piece of my hip bone fell off. It’s been great. This is week one-and-a-half and I’m already walking. So things should be good.”
He had a one-crutch for about 10 days. He’s still technically on it, but he’s already walking. If he hadn’t shared the news of the injury, the slight limp would not have been noticeable. It looks like a serious athlete who just got through with a heavy leg day.
That’s the bad news. He missed out on a state title and suffered that injury when a small piece of bone was separated from the main bone due to the pull of the muscle and tendon attached to it.
The good news is that he should be ready for spring practice at Fellowship Christian. His timetable for return was placed at six to eight weeks.
“When I first found out about that injury it was terrifying,” he said. “I lost in the finals. I’m walking out and so I got driven home after the loss and everything. So I’m just sitting there. I’m in pain. I’m uncomfortable. You know waking up the next morning seeing from the doctor that it is fractured. It’s shocking. It’s scary.”
Petty estimated the pain scale at an “eight or nine” on a scale of 10. It now stands as the worst injury of his football career.
“You know I’m thinking about my football career. Thinking about spring ball starting and I’m thinking about weight gain and just everything like that and just how this puts a dent in my plans.”
He was up on points when it occurred.
“If I didn’t fracture my hip, then I’d be a state champion right now,” he said.
It is a good thing Petty has a deep spiritual Christian faith and a glass-third-quarters-full outlook on life.
He’s now just focused on his plan to attack that “dent” in his plans.
There’s also the matter of that weight. Petty dropped some weight during wrestling season before the injury. He’s had an SEC coach discuss the matter with him and tell him that his goal should be to play his senior year at 285 pounds.
Cue up that part again about the 350-to-400 protein grams per day. And a goal of around 6,750 calories per day. That will require protein shake after protein shake. And breakfast, lunches, second lunches and dinners.
He’ll slam a very heavy protein shake every night before he goes to bed.
The 6-foot-5 Petty gets that part about the weight gain.
“I understand that,” he said. “Playing SEC ball you’ve got to be 300-plus pounds to move those guys. Those are a different animal. Those linemen in the SEC are really big guys. Strong guys. Fast guys. I understand that. I understand why [that SEC coach] would try and ask me to make that weight. That’s going to be one of my goals heading into this offseason.”
He’ll have breakfast, lunch, a second lunch and then dinner. The diet will consist of daily protein shakes with one in the morning, a second one with lunch, a protein shake with lunch before dinner and finally slugging back another shake in the evening.
“Trying to do it big,” Petty said. “Trying to get big.”
Petty is still a major O-line target for the ‘Dawgs. Georgia was his 13th offer, he said.
“It has been awesome,” Petty said. “Growing up you always hear about the Bulldogs. They’ve won back-to-back national championships. So of course, the first part of receiving that offer felt great. Then in keeping up connections. Knowing that they want me to play for them and the way they recruit has been really awesome.”
“This recruiting process has been special with them for sure.”
Josh Petty plans to trim down his list of offers in the coming months
Petty wants to put a dent of his own into the realistic sorting stack of his 40-plus college offers.
“My goals are really to start looking into trimming down my list,” he said. “Taking visits to places that I haven’t been. Taking visits back to places I have been. Just want to finalize my final list so I can have a great picture of what it looks like for OVs.”
It would be hard for him to get down to eight schools right now. He’s aiming at a cutdown to 12 for the first wave. That sounds like something he can do.
What is he looking for? He’s got a criteria. He laughs when he rattles it off. That’s because he’s likely answered that question more than any other in his process up to this point.
Maybe a hundred times.
“I’ve got a list,” he said. “Spiritual development. That’s going to be huge for me. Player development and personal development as well. Getting me to be a better kid. Growing me up. Taking me in as a 17-year-old. Turning me into a man. Shaping those first formative years of manhood. As well as spiritual development. I go to a Christian school. It is a very big prowess for me. Spiritual development is huge for me.”
“Player development is just the school that is going to turn me into a big lineman with long arms that can move well and move big guys putting pancakes out there.”
Another element is having a coach that he likes.
“That’s a guy who is going to be leading me,” Petty said. “Going to be my guide. The one guy that I will turn to and I’m talking to every day. I feel like he and I are going to have to have a strong bond and a good connection as well as academics.”
“My father has instilled that in me as a very young guy. I’ve had a 4.0 GPA all my years. I’ve got a 4.12 right now so it is going great. Academics are huge.”
Here’s a snapshot of all things Josh Petty when it comes to his recruiting:
- Why do schools want him: Petty has an 84-inch reach with his wingspan. He moves his feet well and can mirror defensive ends to prevent them from getting to the quarterback.
- The schools that hit him up the most: Probably Auburn and Tennessee
- Enrollment plan: He will graduate early in December and enroll in January of 2025
- Decision timeline: He’d like to do it before his senior year after his officials. But if he’s not ready, he will not rush it because of timing or the convenience of the schools recruiting him.
- The one offer he’s still looking for: Southern Cal
- Dream school growing up: Tennessee
- Family background: His mother grew up and spent at least her college years in Poland. His father played Division II football and then went to Morehouse.
- What position will he play in college: “I’ve heard tackle a lot,” he said. “From what I’ve talked about with coaches I will come in and they will have me playing tackle. Based on what they see me doing there, that will really decide what I’m going to play in the future.”
- The one school he’s intrigued by he needs to go see for himself: Oklahoma
- How can he get better: He’s self-scouted his 2023 tape. He pointed to his effort playing both ways at OT and DE. He counted up an average of 120 plays per game. Petty wants to show consistent effort in the fourth quarter when he’s gassed. He doesn’t want to turn on the tape and see reps where he’s not doing anything. He wants to improve on the “little things” that will help him at the next level hand placement and getting under his blocks to move that defender. He wants to eliminate things from his game that he can’t get away with at the high school level.
- How will he make his decision: He will take into the pros and cons of the scientific method. The academics. Development. “But I’ve also heard from a lot of guys that it was a feeling for them,” Petty said. “They got that feeling and they know why they’re there.”
- What he seeks out on visits: Petty gets that coaches are in a heavy-sell mode with 5-stars. He always wants to learn how the players feel. They can share the reality inside a program. No matter how much honey an elite recruiter pours into his ears.
Josh Petty on Georgia football: How does he feel about being a ‘Dawg?
Petty has a list of schools he is planning to get to in March and April. His father keeps the list so he didn’t have perfect recall on which schools or dates yet.
But he does know he will be back in Athens again.
“I know that we are locking one in with the ‘Dawgs,” Petty said.
How does he feel about Georgia?
“I feel very strongly about the ‘Dawgs,” he said. “Coach [Stacy] Searels and coach [Kirby] Smart do a great job with recruiting and as I’ve said multiple times they’re going to win national championships. They’ve done it before and I believe that staff and that development and the way they do it, you know, you know they are going to get guys in there. They’re going to make them big. They’re going to make them strong and then they’re going to make them understand how to move as one and efficiently run an offense.”
What does he remember about his last visit to UGA?
“Just how well they do it,” Petty said. “Coach Smart is out there. He’s an active coach. He’s laying into everybody. He’s making sure and wants those guys to get better. I can see why they are winning national championships.”
He said the NFL development and how much they win stick out as major draws to consider choosing UGA.
Auburn has been recruiting him well. Petty said his relationship with line coach Jake Thornton is real and “sticks out” to him.
“He’s very good at what he does,” Petty said. “I’ve seen his history as well as the people at Auburn. They seem like they really care and they are really awesome around there.”
Rocky Top should also be seen as a big contender here, among several others.
“Just what they’ve been doing with that offense,” Petty said. “That’s been really sticking out to me. I’ve seen how successful they have been and how they’ve been doing it.”
What’s the dream here? Well, the dream was to make it to the next level and play college ball. Those opportunities are there.
“It is time to be a Freshman All-American,” he said. “It is time to be someone who is going to college and making a difference. It is time to be one of those guys.”
Check out Petty’s “DawgNation Conversation” below.
SENTELL'S INTEL
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